Classic Chick Flicks 101: The Essentials

It has been almost a year since I started my blog, Just Chick Flicks. But why ‘just chick flicks‘? I love all types of movies; science fiction, mysteries, action. I will watch almost anything, except horror.

When I think of chick flicks, I think not only about today’s quirky love stories, but about the movies that old Hollywood moguls used to call “women’s movies“.

They were talking about movies that appealed to women. These movies touched my emotions, made me laugh, inspired me and sometimes, they even made me cry. They were not always love stories, but there was always a strong female lead.

Great actresses like Kathryn Hepburn, Barbara Stanwick, Bette Davis and Judy Holliday were stars who played women who could handle their business. They wanted love, but on their own terms. These movies were made in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s and they are classics.

Many of them, like Stella Dallas and The Women have even been remade to appeal to our modern tastes, but the originals are still the best. Let’s think of these movies as your basic education in Classic Chick Flicks.

This is my list of 25 Classic Chick Flicks. If you haven’t seen all of these movies, check them out on iTunes, Amazon or Netflix.

They are essential viewing for all Chick Flick fans.

The Essentials

Starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Sabrina is directed by Billy Wilder, the director of some of our greatest classic movies, likeSome Like It Hot, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, The Seven Year Itch and The Apartment. Wilder loved his leading ladies. You can tell by the wonderful way he filmed them.

Starring Bette Davis, Eve Arden and featuring a cameo role of a young blond starlet (Marilyn Monroe).

Bette Davis was 42 years old when she starred in All About Eve. Which make the story all the more interesting. Bette plays Margo Channing, a Broadway legend who is getting older and no longer able to play the younger roles. She is struggling to keep her successful career and her relationship with a younger man (Gary Merrill) who is also the plays director.

Barbara Stanwick is wonderful in this tear-jerker about a mother who makes the ultimate sacrifice for her daughter’s happiness. Stella Dallas is a classic chick flick about the sacrifices a mother makes for her daughter. Stanwyck stars as the working class girl with big plans, Stella Martin.

Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan star as co-workers who a have a love hate relationship, without knowing that they are pen pals. This movie usually plays on television around Christmas time, however you will enjoy it anytime of year.

Ball of Fire (1941)

A wise-cracking Barbara Stanwick causes quite a stir when she hides out from her mob boyfriend in a house full of old college professors.

Katharine Hepburn stars as a ‘spinster’ (I hate that word) who falls for a handsome con man, played by Burt Lancaster. Best dating advice in a movie is also one of my favorite movie lines: “You got to get a man the way a man gets got!”